Productive adults are often injured during their leisure activities, such as in skiing accidents. In many cases they suffer injuries requiring the temporary use of crutches for mobility. Crutches most commonly used during rehabilitation of such injuries are of the "Y" design. Such a crutch frame has two members that converge near the bottom and attach to a central leg member. The two frame members are spread apart at the top to support an under-arm brace. Horizontally opposing sets of holes in the frame members permit a handgrip to be attached between the frame members by a bolt and wingnut. Handgrip position is adjustable vertically for arm length by selecting the appropriate set of bolt holes. The central leg is similarly adjustable vertically in order to adapt the crutch to the user's height. There are at least four different types of "Y" crutches on the market, distinguishable by different frame cross-sections and materials of construction.
In order to continue performing their jobs, and even for everyday living, crutch users frequently have to carry a newspaper, documents, notepads, folders, mail, an address booklet, and similar articles found in both the home and business settings. Crutch users have considerable difficulty hand-carrying articles while simultaneously supporting themselves on a pair of crutches. Each crutch has a handgrip which the user grasps to both lean on and manipulate the crutch. While moving around on crutches, the user needs a method other than hand-carrying to transport even the smallest articles. A carrying device attached to one of the crutches can be of significant benefit to a productive adult, especially if it is capable of supporting articles found in the business setting, such as papers, folders, legal pads, and other predominantly thin, flat, and non-rigid articles.
Increasingly common in the business setting are metal 12 oz. beverage cans for single-service cold beverages, available from vending machines. With the popularity of vending machines in office complexes and other work facilities, a carrying device attachable to a crutch, which not only supports business items, but which also supports an open 12 oz. beverage can, is highly desirable. Also of benefit is a carrying device which can be conveniently attached without tools to a wide variety of commercial crutch frames, and which is not so bulky as to limit the user's access through doorways or to knock things over.
Although carrying devices attachable to a crutch are well known in the art, many are deficient in some respect. U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,541 to Herman, for example, shows a wire frame attachment which connects to handgrip adjusting holes below the handgrip, for carrying books, parcels, and other large objects. Although preferably made of resilient spring steel and coated with rubber, such a carrier has no way of clamping thin or small items because there is nothing to clamp against. The outermost end of the bent wire frame is centered between the two crutch frame members, requiring an article to be large and rigid so that both frame members resist the clamping force applied by the wire frame. A non-rigid article like a notepad would easily bend and avoid being clamped. Since the device is intended to be mounted in the handgrip holes below the handgrip, the lowermost position of the handgrip is unavailable. Mounting a carrying device above the handgrip is generally not feasible because articles then interfere with grasping the handgrip.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,383 to McBride has a flexible bag-type carrier mounted between the crutch frame members, hanging from the handgrip by means of string ties or straps. While intended for smaller articles, McBride's carrying device is not useful for carrying legal size notepads and the like, where folding is either impractical or undesirable. In addition, McBride's carrier is designed to fit into the converging part of the crutch frame. Lower straps connect to the smaller girth of the converging part of the frame. The handgrip is then positioned by the length of the bag, and thus may not be adjustable for different user heights. Also, some crutches have the adjustable central leg member extending between the converging frame members where it could interfere with McBride's carrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,156 to Ulics shows a rigid bucket-like carrier attached at the side of a crutch by an extended handgrip bolt passing through two carrier support brackets and secured by a handgrip wingnut. Papers, books, and many other articles could be carried by such a device. However, the size of such a container, to carry a legal pad, for example, may be a nuisance to crutch manipulation. Also, because long objects like legal pads would likely be supported vertically to keep the carrier small, interference with crutch handgripping may occur. When the crutch is swung back and forth during walking, the rigid container provides no support to loose papers which may blow or fall out. Attachment of the two brackets of this carrier, by using a bolt extending through the handgrip and crutch frame, requires a longer bolt than typically comes with the crutch. The apparent need for hardware replacement lacks convenience for attaching this carrier system. Also, the two brackets must be adjusted relative to each other for different crutch frame widths.
An example of another type of crutch attachment for carrying articles is U.S. Pat. No. 2,553,730 to Taylor. This patent shows a device attached to a crutch frame at one end, having an elastic means encircling a package or other rigid article resting on a shelf of the device. The other end of the elastic means is attached to the crutch, thereby securing the encircled package tightly against the crutch. Similar to other prior art carrying devices, this device is not appropriate for carrying thin, non-rigid articles or open beverage cans commonly found in a business environment. By being mounted between the converging portion of the crutch frame, the carrier's use is limited by crutch shape. Even if it fits, its position relative to the adjustable handgrip is variable. The user may have difficulty reaching articles within this carrier when the handgrip is positioned high in the crutch frame.
Still another type of crutch attachment was observed by the inventor of the present invention. It consisted of three metal spring clips taped to the sides of the crutch frame members, one facing upward toward two others facing downward. The three clips were spaced to hold objects the size of notepads. Each clip had an independent finger grip for opening it. Clips had to be sequentially opened for each article to be either inserted or removed. While useful for carrying business papers, this device was limited as to the size and weight of articles it could support. Clips taped to crutch frame members were frequently dislodged, and spacing adjustment for different sized articles was quite inconvenient. However, the use of common spring clips demonstrated the need for a device attachable to a crutch for carrying those articles found in a business setting.